Unique mastery of the craft is passed to young girls through years of informal exposure and then formal instruction by their mother or grandmother in applying cottonthread to linen.
One of the most popular tongba spots in the city is the Small Star Restaurant, located on an alley full of shops selling cloth and cottonthread, just off Thahiti Square, one block south of the tourist district, Thamel.
The country used to have factories to spin cotton into thread and there were even several textile factories producing clothes, but they've all shut their doors.